First Customer Acquisition in Start-ups: Interview Study
Özkan, Kubilay Kagan (2020)
Özkan, Kubilay Kagan
2020
Degree Programme in Industrial Engineering and Management, MSc (Tech)
Tekniikan ja luonnontieteiden tiedekunta - Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2020-05-28
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202005255632
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202005255632
Tiivistelmä
The impact of start-ups in economic growth in the world has been enormous. However, most start-ups fail before they break even. If the failure rate of start-ups could be improved, the world’s economy and people could benefit from the disruptive innovations that start-ups pro-duce. Therefore, there needs to be more research on understanding the start-up development from the very early-stages. Among many challenges that start-ups face, one key decisive chal-lenge is to get the first customer paying for whatever the startup is offering. This challenge is also closely connected to the life expectany of the startup; if there is a customer, there will be a business.
The objective of this thesis is to discuss the iterative process of how B2B start-ups even-tually get their first sale and how the business ideas evolve until the scalable business models are found. To accomplish this objective, this thesis reviewes the literature concerning start-ups and how the business idea and sales evolve through pivots until the scalable business is found. Special emphasis will be on the software start-ups and especially those who focus on the software-as-a-service business model. A framework is designed to demonstrate the poten-tial iterations preliminary to the first sale and in the development process of start-ups until the scalable solution is discovered. Finally, this framework is analyzed and validated by inter-viewing seven B2B SaaS start-ups.
This study demonstrates the major challenges faced for getting the first B2B software sale and the iterative process while getting the first customer and finding the scalable model in the development process of start-ups. This study also introduces the concept of ‘start-up chasm’ to emphasize the challenge many customer have to get the first customer willing to pay for the offering. This study contributes to the start-up literature showing the iterative nature of ‘pilot cases’ startups often have before the first paying customer is found and until the scalable business model is found.
The objective of this thesis is to discuss the iterative process of how B2B start-ups even-tually get their first sale and how the business ideas evolve until the scalable business models are found. To accomplish this objective, this thesis reviewes the literature concerning start-ups and how the business idea and sales evolve through pivots until the scalable business is found. Special emphasis will be on the software start-ups and especially those who focus on the software-as-a-service business model. A framework is designed to demonstrate the poten-tial iterations preliminary to the first sale and in the development process of start-ups until the scalable solution is discovered. Finally, this framework is analyzed and validated by inter-viewing seven B2B SaaS start-ups.
This study demonstrates the major challenges faced for getting the first B2B software sale and the iterative process while getting the first customer and finding the scalable model in the development process of start-ups. This study also introduces the concept of ‘start-up chasm’ to emphasize the challenge many customer have to get the first customer willing to pay for the offering. This study contributes to the start-up literature showing the iterative nature of ‘pilot cases’ startups often have before the first paying customer is found and until the scalable business model is found.